1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to animal refuse scoops, and more particularly to scoops for use with clumping animal litter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Domesticated animals such as cats are often trained to use litter boxes for defecation and urination. These litter boxes are typically filled with some type of disposable litter, which is usually comprised of some sort of fine absorbent granules. A particularly useful type of disposable litter is a clumping litter, such as the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. App. 2005/0005869 to Fritter et. al. Clumping litter allows a user to clean the litter box by removing solidified clumps of litter that have been coagulated together by an animal's urine, or attached to wet/fresh fasces, to form a clumped mass.
To remove such clumped masses of litter, the user should, for hygienic reasons, preferably employ a litter scoop. Numerous animal refuse scoops are disclosed in the prior art. Recently, animal refuse scoops have been adapted to work particularly well with clumping litter in that these scoops provide openings to allow the non-clumped granules to fall through the scoop, and back in to the litter box. U.S. Pat. App. 2002/0124813 to Rose discloses a litter scoop having an adjustable width for any size litter box. This litter scoop has stiffening ribs bounding an interior sifting area and optionally extending up the handle area. U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,029 to Renforth discloses a scoop for clumping litter having a rake portion and a receptacle portion. U.S. Pat. D332,675 to Simon discloses a scoop with slots in the bottom, back, and sides. U.S. Pat. D387,514 to Savicki discloses a scoop with a large hollow handle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,675 to Zahrowski describes a scoop without slots having a central longitudinal rib and two marginal ribs surrounding the head. U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,277 to Robinson discloses a scoop with parallel ribs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,055 to Kohn discloses a scoop having an opening and surrounding walls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,036 to Ring discloses a scoop with a transverse barrier or rib. U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,907 to Johnston describes a scoop with a removable liner for the scoop section. This scoop solves the problem of maintaining a sanitary scoop, however the liners may be inconvenient to attach and use.
There is a need for a disposable scoop that is of inexpensive construction so that it is disposable, which allows maintaining hygienic conditions, and yet strong enough to strain through a litter box and capture and hold clumps of used litter. To overcome the problems of prior art litter scoops, which are generally not disposable, scoops of the present invention are designed to be inexpensive yet strong.
Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. As used herein, positional terms, such as “bottom” and “top” and the like, and directional terms, such as “up”, “down” and the like, are employed for ease of description in conjunction with the drawings. Further, the terms “interior”, “inwardly” and the like, refer to positions and directions toward the geometric center of embodiments of the present invention and designated parts thereof. The terms “exterior”, “outwardly”, and the like, refer to positions and directions away from the geometric center. None of these terms is meant to indicate that the described components must have a specific orientation except when specifically set forth.
Figures illustrating the components of this invention and the container show some conventional mechanical elements that are known and that will be recognized by one skilled in the art. The detailed descriptions of such elements are not necessary to an understanding of the invention, and accordingly, are herein presented only to the degree necessary to facilitate an understanding of the novel features of the present invention.